In 1951 she graduated from the College of St. Scholastica with a degree in nursing. She worked as an RN at St. Marys and the Duluth Clinic until retirement in 1996.

She was a longtime member of St. Michaels Catholic Church and loved spending time with her family, taking trips up the North Shore, reading, scrapbooking, cooking and playing games of all kinds. Rarely could anyone best her in a game of Scrabble.

Preceded in death by parents, Henry and Pearl Gelting; brother, James; and infant son, James Philip.